For many, homelessness is a short-term problem. For others, homelessness is pervasive. The federal definition states that a person is considered chronically homeless when he spends over a year in a state of homelessness or has had a minimum of four episodes of homelessness over a three-year period. Although chronic homelessness represents a small portion of the overall homeless population, this population consumes over half of services. This page includes information, statistics, and research on ending chronic homelessness.